Girls Given Glimpse of Non-Traditional Jobs

A seventh-grader wriggled her way into cumbersome firefighting equipment.

Students drew their own blood and recorded their blood types.

The weekend’s “Expanding Your Horizons” conference for girls in grades six through 12 drew students from Fallbrook to Del Mar to explore non-traditional careers through hands-on workshops, career panels and one-to-one dialogue.

The all-day event featured more than 40 professional women--a pilot, a firefighter, a banker, doctors, a physicist, an architect, a labor attorney, a certified public accountant, an anthropologist, an astronomer, a reproductive physiologist and more.

The bottom line from these role models? Not only are math and science important for young women, but these skills unlock the doors to many lucrative careers. What’s more, with an open attitude and an “I can do it!” philosophy, goal setting can begin as early as junior high school.

Led by University Women

The event was sponsored by the Del Mar-Leucadia branch of the American Assn. of University Women with the backing of the Women’s Advisory Board of MiraCosta College. The 100-plus North County students converged on MiraCosta’s Del Mar Shores campus to find early-morning hustle, bustle, buttons, fact-filled packets and brownies.

Many attendees came eagerly, anxious to talk with professionals in specific fields. Others were reluctant--”I’m only here because my mother made me come.” By day’s end, many who arrived nervous and tentative went home buzzing with a kaleidoscope of new ideas. The complexities of science had become exciting “hands-on” research. Scribbled math formulas suddenly had practical value.

The conference began on a practical note with workshops based on the book “Choices: A Teen Woman’s Journal for Self-Awareness and Personal Planning” by Mindy Bingham, Judy Edmondson and Sandy Stryker.

“You’re 28, raising two children and single,” each workshop leader began, noting that 2 out of 5 marriages may end in divorce, and 9 out of 10 women will work outside the home in their adult lives. Working out a hypothetical budget (including housing, transportation, clothing, child care, food, entertainment, furnishings and medical care) provided a cold splash of reality for girls unaware of today’s living costs.

The girls combed want ads for affordable housing: “You have to put $18,000 down to buy a house?”

Financial Compromises

Budget totals were calculated, ranging from $28,000 to $38,000 a year. BMWs, ocean views and high-fashion clothing gave way to used cars, inland locations and discount dressing. As a last step, the girls returned to the classifieds, searching for jobs with salaries to support themselves and their two children.

This, coupled with plotting line graphs that dramatically illustrated disparities in income between traditionally male and traditionally female occupations, underlined the relationship between occupation and income.

“The point of the exercise is to ground teens, to demonstrate that often higher-salaried jobs require math and science backgrounds,” one workshop presenter said. “This just says, ‘Keep your choices open.’ ”

In an alternate “Choices” session, young women tackled goal setting, objectives, job possibilities and the tough issues of teen pregnancy, divorce, child custody and sex roles.

Incongruities often triggered debate.

When asked to list admirable qualities of famous women, such as Indira Gandhi, Sally Ride, Amelia Earhart or Christa McAuliffe, the girls listed “guts, pride, determination, dedication, intelligence or “she did it!”

Then, asked to list female qualities portrayed on television or in movies, they listed “sexy,” “skinny,” “tight dresses,” “wealthy,” “beautiful,” “dependent” and “sophisticated.”

“The average girl is the way she is because of TV, her family, the schools,” said Chris Woodard, a teacher in an alternative school, community leader and Girl Scouting veteran. “You have to get young women in a single-sex situation where there are no boys to impress. Then leadership develops. Some of the public schools are beginning to use the Choices approach. The word is spreading.”

Hands-on workshops followed. Conference-goers could choose bioluminescence, robotics, firefighting and others.

Demystifying Math, Science

Helping to demystify math and science for participants were “real-life” female speakers talking comfortably about cell replication, chromatography, interest rates and spread sheets, splicing DNA, mapping the ocean floor and inventing new equipment for telescopes.

Immersed in mashing up sea fireflies in a test tube, then checking in the dark for evidence of bioluminescence caused by the pigment luciferin, the girls hardly noticed they were problem solving, experimenting, hypothesizing--”doing science.”

“Smells like fish in here,” sniffed one student.

“Sure, that’s because this is oceanography,” replied teacher Jeannie Christopher, smiling. “Get used to that feeling!”

“I want to make young girls aware of what else is out there in terms of careers,” said Lynette Maurer, one of 31 women in San Diego’s firefighting force of 800 plus. “And to tell them not to limit their thinking about what jobs are open to them.”

Kathryn Kalabokes, 13, donned Maurer’s heavy firefighting suit, boots and oxygen mask.

“I almost fell down,” Kathryn said. “And that oxygen stuff blows right in your face! It was really interesting to see what firefighters do.”

Maurer discussed the rigorous physical conditioning--daily jogging to build stamina, hoisting heavy ladders and being prepared for any eventuality, like wearing full firefighting gear for a long period of time, as in the Normal Heights fire.

Technology of Reproduction

In Dr. Barbara Durrant’s workshop on endangered species, students learned about the technology that has enabled 35-year-old frozen bull sperm to be used for successful impregnation, and about the elaborate process of extracting black rhino sperm to ensure survival of the species.

Fascinated, young women flocked to Durrant, a reproductive physiologist at the San Diego Zoo, with questions about courses, schools and her career. Participants learned that salaries don’t always match up to years of training necessary, 12 in her case.

“I stress that what you earn is not nearly as important as satisfaction with your work,” she said.

Durrant, an adviser to the San Diego Unified School District, said: “We have to expand children’s horizons. San Diego does a better job than many other areas in getting the word out to young girls about careers in science and math.”

Afternoon career panels were grouped into categories: land development, life science, business and finance, health science and others. Speakers were frank about their jobs, and the background needed to enter each field.

Lisa Hock, a molecular biologist at Syntro Corp., emphasized the importance of studying and attaining a bachelor’s degree.

“I had to go to classes for three years at junior college before entering UCSD to make up for the math and science I didn’t take in high school,” she said.

‘I’m Stubborn’

Dr. Rhona Fink, a physician, was asked what made her persist. She said: “I’m stubborn. I didn’t get much support, but I knew I could do it.”

Janay Kruger, owner of a construction company, spends part of her time dressed in sweats driving Jeeps through construction sites, and part in business attire making management decisions. Kruger’s message: “Women can do it. Be gutsy. It’s not that tough!”

A decade ago, the Math/Science Network at Mills College in Oakland established the precedent for the “Expanding Your Horizons” conferences. Concerned with low participation by females at all levels of mathematics and science, a consortium of 1,200 educators, parents, community leaders and professional scientists staged its first conference in 1976. This spring, 77 such events will take place in 20 states and Canada, with more than 15,000 young women. Locally, Grossmont College and the Poway-Penasquitos branch of AAUW will both stage similar conferences.